Slavery and Secession in Antebellum America

1. By 1860, cotton was the chief crop of the South and represented 57% of all US exports. • Railroads carried cotton bales weighing up to 500 pounds to textile factories in the North. • By 1860, approximately 4 million enslaved African Americans lived in the South. • Living conditions for slaves varied in different regions. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/pics/pickers.jpg

2. A secret network of escape routes known as the Underground Railroad was created in the 1830s. • Harriet Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom in the North, Canada and other countries. Because of this, they called her “The Moses of her people” • Abolitionists in the North, such as former slave Frederick Douglass, began to work for the elimination of slavery in the South. His newspaper, The North Star, helped increase awareness about abolition.

3. Southerners now feared the federal government would interfere with slavery. • A small minority in the south known as “Fire eaters” wanted secession. • In theory, the Union was a voluntary compact – independent states were free to leave at any time. • When Alabama entered the Union in 1819, there were 11 free and 11 slaveholding states. http://www.authentichistory.com/images/antebellum/maps_and_charts/1819_the_united_states.jpg http://www.southernopinion.com/archives/Almanac/Yancey.gif

4. The Constitution gave the federal government no authority to interfere with slavery within the states. • Abolitionists hoped to prevent slavery’s spread. • If Missouri entered the Union as a slave state, the South would have more power in the Senate. • In 1821, Henry Clay arranged what became known as the Missouri Compromise.

5. Missouri (slave) and Maine (free) would join the Union at the same time. • An imaginary line would be drawn west of the Mississippi along the southern border of Missouri (36°30' N). • South of this line, slavery was permitted. • In 1820, there were about 10,000 slaves in Missouri. • By 1860, there were about 115,000 slaves in Missouri. • By 1849, using this law as a guide, there were 15 free and 15 slaveholding states. http://dl.jctc.kctcs.edu/users/anne.kearney/MoCoL.jpg http://www.heritage-flag.com/images/historic/30.gif

6. The United States had acquired a large tract of land after the Mexican War. • Abolitionists demanded that slavery be excluded from these new lands. • John C. Calhoun (S.C.) threatened secession if Southern interests were not respected in the new territories. • The Free-Soil Party - formed by Whigs and Democrats to fight slavery – received 10% of the popular vote in the 1848 election. http://dl.jctc.kctcs.edu/users/anne.kearney/MCL.jpg

7. In 1850, Henry Clay again arranged a compromise that would keep the Union together. • California would be admitted to the Union as a free state. • The remainder of the Mexican Cession would vote on whether to permit slavery. • Washington D.C. would close its ports to the slave trade • The compromise included the Fugitive Slave Law. http://www.utep.edu/kc3312/clymer/images/big44.jpg

8. Northerners were required to help capture escaped slaves and return them to Southern slaveholders. • People who broke the law could receive six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. • Northerners felt forced to be part of the slave system. • In response, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/delany/freeman.gif http://www.assumption.edu/whw/old/fugitiveslaveposter.gif http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/images/uncletom.gif

9. Stowe’s book was more popular in its day than any other publication except the Bible. • It sold 3,000 copies the first day it was released. • By 1857, 500,000 copies had been sold. • The fight over slavery was about to turn violent. • In 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to open Western territories to white settlement. http://www.civilwar.si.edu/slavery_images/stowe_uncletomscabin.jpg

10. The Kansas-Nebraska Act essentially repealed the Missouri Compromise. • Settlers in the territories would decide “all questions pertaining to slavery” by popular vote. • Soon, settlers on both sides were flowing into Kansas to vote on the issue. • Southerners who had moved to Missouri – known as Border Ruffians– conducted raids into Kansas to terrorize and murder antislavery settlers. http://www.athenasweb.com/img/bordeRuff.JPG http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/episodes/images/ep4.gif

11. In May 1856, Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on proslavery settlers – killing five men and boys. • The territory was soon called “Bloody Kansas.” • Antislavery forces finally triumphed – Kansas entered the Union in January 1861 as a free state. • Abraham Lincoln, a longtime Whig, wrote that the Kansas-Nebraska Act called him to take action. • Antislavery groups met to form the Republican Party. http://abelincoln.com/country_prints/images/3-45.jpg

12. In 1846, a slave named Dred Scott and his wife sued for their freedom. • Because he and his wife had been taken to free territories, Scott argued that they were no longer slaves. • In a 7 to 2 ruling in 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal courts. • Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a statement that African Americans were “so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” http://www.nathanielturner.com/images/New_Folder2/rbtaney.jpg http://history.smsu.edu/FTMiller/LocalHistory/Bios/Harriet_Scott.jpg http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docimages/doc_029_small.jpg

13. Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas for his position of Illinois Senator in 1858. • They engaged in debates that gathered nationwide attention. • Douglas stood by his Kansas-Nebraska Act. • Lincoln called slavery “a moral, a social, and a political wrong” that should not spread any further. • Lincoln declared, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently, half Slave and half Free.” http://www.longleaf.net/milo/1858LincolnDouglas.gif http://ottawa.il.us/LINCOLNDOUGLAS35MM.jpg

14. Douglas won the election (in the Illinois legislature) but Lincoln gained a national reputation. • On October 16, 1859, John Brown and 18 followers raided the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. • He planned to seize the weapons and ammunition to start a slave rebellion. • Townspeople surrounded the armory and killed some of Brown’s men. http://data2.itc.nps.gov/hafe/results.cfm

15. On October 18, Marines led by Robert E. Lee killed ten of the abolitionists and captured Brown. • Brown was convicted of treason on November 2, 1859. • When he was hanged for his crime one month later, thousands of Northerners hailed Brown as a martyr. • For Southerners, Brown represented their deepest fear – armed intervention in their states by Northern abolitionists. http://www.usmcartist.com/art/large/johnbrown.jpg http://data2.itc.nps.gov/hafe/results.cfm http://www.inheritage.org/subs/images/20.jpg

16. Democrats were divided along regional lines leading up to the 1860 election. • Stephen Douglas was nominated by Northern Democrats. • John Breckinridge of Kentucky was nominated by Southern Democrats. • The Constitutional Union Party chose John Bell of Tennessee as their candidate. • Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, who won easily in the electoral college although he did not receive a majority of the popular vote. http://elections.harpweek.com/NewSite/1860/cartoon-1860-large.asp http://www.authentichistory.com/images/antebellum/maps_and_charts/1860_election.jpg

17. During the campaign, Southerners had threatened to secede from the Union if Lincoln was elected. • South Carolina became the first state to withdraw from the Union on December 20, 1860. • By Lincoln’s inauguration in March 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had also left the Union. • In February 1861, Southern delegates met in Montgomery, Alabama to set up a government. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vctt8photo.jpg http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/images/SouthCarolinaSecedes.gif

18. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi became the first president of the Confederate States of America. • In May 1861, the Confederacy moved its capital to Richmond, Virginia. • When Lincoln called for states to send militias to suppress the rebellion, the upper South joined the lower South in secession • By June 1861, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee had also seceded. http://www.research.umbc.edu/~arubin/421/secession.gif

19. In his inaugural address, Lincoln said he would not interfere with slavery where it currently existed. • He did, however, point out that he had just taken an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend” the Union. • He ended his address by saying, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” • Just over a month later, the Civil War began.